UBS has more than doubled the size of its Amsterdam team and made its first move into Dutch wealth management by acquiring an independent group with roughly 100 ultra-high-net-worth clients.

The Swiss bank, whose global wealth management business is the cornerstone of its group operations, said in a statement today it has signed an agreement to acquire VermogensGroep.

The acquisition of VermogensGroep, which manages €4bn ($6.2bn) in client assets and has a further €10bn in assets under administration, will more than double UBS’ staff in Amsterdam from 33 across its global asset management and investment banking teams, to 71, the Swiss bank said.

Juerg Zeltner, head of wealth management for north, east and central Europe at UBS, said: “This move will establish our physical wealth management presence in the Netherlands with a quality local investment platform in place.”

He said the bank will be able to target wealthy Dutch clients “with immediate scale”, adding its business will be expanded over time to create “a comprehensive local wealth management offering”.

UBS’ first move into the Dutch high wealth market contrasts with recent setbacks in its UK business, which has witnessed a string of defections in the past two years.

Last month, 18 UK-based private bankers at UBS resigned to join Vestra Wealth, a new business run by a former executive at the Swiss bank. A further 30 support staff are also understood to have defected to the new business.

In 2006, former UBS executive Michael Kerr-Dineen left the bank to set up Cheviot Asset Management, taking more than 90 colleagues with him. Cheviot was revealed this week to be lobbying UBS to let it co-manage up to £2bn (€2.5bn) of client accounts in the wake of the more recent defections from the bank.